Tina Morlock's Blog: A Divination of Books

Ever since I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I was hooked. Shortly after that, the movie came out, and I was an even bigger fan. If you can believe it, it's been twenty years since the first movie dropped, and I still can't get enough of this fantasy world.

So, for us die hard HP fans, the Fantastic Beasts movies have been incredible—especially this last one with the introduction of a much younger Dumbledore and Nagini.

I won't say I am obsessed with Johnny Depp, but I think he's probably in the top ten best modern character actors. He possesses some sort of magic that not many other actors do. Though it's hard to imagine him as the aging, imprisoned Gellert Grindelwald we see in the HP movies, I thought he was the perfect fit for the younger version of him. So, as you can imagine, it's incredibly hard to picture anyone else portraying Grindelwald better. It's just not the same.

When the news came that Warner Brothers had fired JD, I was so angry I couldn't even think straight. On top of being a fan of his portrayal in the movie, I thought it was incredibly unfair for them to shun JD, while they refused to give into fans' demands to get rid of the woman who abused him. And, likewise, they aren't going to go back on their decision about JD either.

So where does that leave us?

With a ruined franchise, I'm afraid. Will I watch it? Sure. Probably. Maybe. Eventually. But it won't be the same.

Many of us are still—and always will be—feeling a bit scathed over losing JD as Grindelwald, and still, other fans will laugh at us for taking it so seriously.

Sue us for caring, I guess. Or would Warner Brothers ban you from being part of the movie too?

Is it too gimmicky to have what many might think is an inanimate object be a narrator of a story? I've been obsessed with this concept ever since I read The Book Thief, which uses death as a narrator to tell the story of a child during the Holocaust. Obsessed, I tell you! I thought it was so cool and unique that I wanted to create a story with a cool narrator like that.

I've played with the idea a lot over the years, and I'm finally getting around to it with my first stand-alone fantasy full-length novel, "As Told by a Tree." I suppose it's pretty evident who the narrator is from the title. Lame? OK? I don't know.

It's a fairy tale retelling of The Juniper-Tree by Grimm, where, among so many other twisted things, a child's stepmother murders the stepchild, and the child eventually gets its revenge after his soul lives in a bird in a tree nearby. (I guess you had to be there, but it's interesting . . . I promise!)

I'm kind of in love with the story, so I suppose I'll see how it's received when I publish it in December of 2021. My writing progress has halted on it because I had to step aside to focus on my BA in English, but I'm going back to writing it in October of 2021.

I'll keep posting regular updates on Sundays, in case anyone is interested. At this point, I'm probably the only one who is (LOL), but I'm here for it.

Fantasy is not only found in books today—it's taken up residence in pretty much every aspect of our lives. Beyond film, television, and books, it exists in video games, sports, subcultures, and even in the bedroom. In some circles—depending on your perspective—you could say that vanilla sex is no longer vanilla, and taboo sex is no longer taboo. The world has changed, breaking apart our preconceived notions about what a healthy sex life should look like.

No matter what corner it creeps into, fantasy is not a bad thing when it's just that—fantasy. When we recognize it as such, it stays in that magical space we need it to occupy. It provides us with an alternative to the everyday, giving us healthy tools to cope with all the mundane and oftentimes painful experiences we go through.

But, as I think more on this, it's not always this cut and dry. Let's take the interesting world of BDSM; or bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadochism, and masochism.

Wow, that's a mouthful. (But only if you don't swallow.)

On one side of this world, you have the people are BDSM-curious, then you have the others who embody the full lifestyle. For the curious, this embodies everything we know is true about fantasy. It allows couples (meaning two sexual partners, not always romantically committed with each other) to experiment with something that feels dangerous, exciting, and a little bit naughty. This gives these partners a healthy way to explore their fantasies.

With the people embodying this as a lifestyle, it's also a healthy part of their lives. For those interested in submission, it allows them to explore their ability to control their own sexuality by putting their safety in their dominant's hands (it's complicated). For those interested in dominance, the power they wield over their submissives is only done with absolute consent and trust that's been ingrained into a healthy relationship. And, though there are sexual aspects to the lifestyle, it's rarely about the sex itself.

Both of these aspects of BDSM are two completely different realms of intimacy, and either of them can head into dangerous territory if anyone involved doesn't understand how it works.

In this way, building an element of fantasy into your sex life comes with a huge responsibility, and those who don't understand that run the risk of hurting themselves or their partners.

It's the ultimate form of fantasy, isn't it? It's the place where fantasy can either become a tool of escape or one that creates safe spaces for those who need it.

Maybe it's a lot like our love for the genre. It's about much more than costumes, imaginary worlds, and vivid colors on the surface. But it's up to us to use that responsibility wisely.

My journey as an author and a reader has been insane. To be brutally honest with you (and myself): I've been all over the damned place. But I'm trying to focus myself more because being an author has always been a dream of mine.

I started out thinking I'd write thrillers . . . and science fiction . . . and fantasy . . . and horror . . . and . . . and . . . and . . . what? Yeah, I know—I exhausted myself, too, trying to keep up with the way my mind changed every day. I wore myself out, and I knew I needed a refresh.

So I took some time off from thinking I'd ever be a novelist that anyone out in the world wanting to read anything about. But, as I started working more as a ghostwriter, I started to miss my identity as an author.

So I did some soul searching, and I decided to focus on one genre so I wouldn't confuse my readers (whenever I got some, that is). That's where I'm at today. I'm focusing on fantasy because I love the creativity and possibility it allows me to play with.

Hello! I hope to not be so crazy in the future.